Saturday, November 12, 2011

To say the way the Edmonton Oilers have decided to use Sam Gagner since his return from a high ankle sprain, as curious, would be putting it nicely. No one was surprised that the club decided to bring the 22 year old along slowly upon his return to lineup. They were playing well and Gagner would need time to get his legs under him after missing a large chunk of camp. So playing him on the wing instead of his customary position of centre, did not seem like a big deal. Fast forward ten games and we still find the fifth year Oiler playing on the wing and on a line that has accomplished absolutely nothing, to this point in the season.

For the second consecutive night, the Edmonton Oilers found themselves playing a superior opponent that was willing to do whatever was necessary to earn two points and for the second straight night, the Oilers were unable to match their opponents intensity and will to win. Detroit were in complete control, start to finish, and were well deserving of the 3-0 final score. If not for the stellar play of goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin, Edmonton would have been run right out of Joe Louis Arena. After winning six in a row, the young Oilers have now lost three of their last four and have been out played by a wide margin in all four games.

The defending Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins, were simply too much for the surprising Edmonton Oilers to handle on Thursday night. The suddenly hot Bruins, were led by a pair of goals from playoff hero Brad Marchand in defeating the Oilers by a score of 6-3. Oilers forward Ryan Smyth continued his strong play scoring two more times, giving him nine on the season.

Wednesday, November 09, 2011

With the recent struggles of the Edmonton Oilers to consistently score more then two goals a night, it may be time for the club to seriously look at changing things upfront. As good as the line of Hall - Nugent-Hopkins - Eberle have been, the trio have hit the wall of late. Add to that, the return of Ales Hemsky and mixing things up, may be just what is needed to spark this teams offence.

On the strength of yet another first star performance from netminder Nikolai Khabibulin, the Edmonton Oilers left the Bell Centre with two points, that they frankly had no business getting. That being said, good teams find ways to win games and that is exactly what Edmonton did, edging the Canadiens by a score of 3-1.The game also marked the return of Oilers forward Ales Hemsky, who has been sidelined since the second game of the season, with shoulder soreness.

Sunday, November 06, 2011

The Phoenix Coyotes put an end to the Edmonton Oilers six game winning streak, with a well deserved 4-2 victory at the Jobings.com Arena. Rookie centre Ryan Nugent-Hopkins potted his sixth of the season midway thru the third period to give the Oilers life but the Coyotes netminder Mike Smith held the fort late, to secure the victory. Devan Dubnyk made 26 saves on the night and watched his record fall to 2-3-0 on the season.